It’s not as if she’s never seen his desk without him sitting there, because of course she has. He’s stayed home sick, made occasional—if unexciting—use of his vacation days, gone on sales calls — she knows what the office looks like when the shape of him is missing, when she glances up and there’s an absence where the slope of his shoulders is supposed to be.

As she settles in that first day of his absence, hangs her coat and takes her seat, Pam lets herself miss him as a coworker and as a best friend and that’s it. Work will be work, with or without Jim Halpert.

But that’s a lie, because of course it is.

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A series of one-shots retelling season 3 from Pam's perspective